Method and apparatus for prioritizing and routing emergent activity reporting

ABSTRACT

A method and system for prioritizing and reporting an observation is disclosed. The observation is preferably received from a mobile device that determines a location of the observation and provides a user of the mobile device with a preselected list of classifications for the observation. The observation is prioritized based at least in part on the location and the classification associated with the observation. The priority may depend on a distance between the location in the observation and a catalog of objects of interest. The priority may also depend on the existence of other observations having the same classification within a threshold distance of the observation. The prioritized observation is routed to appropriate personnel based on the determined priority. The prioritized observation may also be included in an ordered list based on priority and/or rendered in a geospatial view with at least one display attribute being based on the priority.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No.61/405,541, filed Oct. 21, 2010, the entirety of which is incorporatedby reference herein.

BACKGROUND

Every day, in all facets of life, behaviors and activities occur and areobserved that may be indicators of an impending event or a need.Impending events may be adverse events such as crimes, terroristattacks, automobile accidents or pandemic disease outbreak. Needs may bethe need for a special type of response during an accident or disaster(e.g. evacuation of special needs populations or the need forspecialized HAZMAT equipment following a spill). Often, although theseactivities are, observed, those observations do not get into the handsof individuals or organizations that need to know or assess the“emergent situation” (defined as the impending event, need, oropportunity to act). Even if they do get reported, they often are notprioritized correctly (or at all) or are not shared with all of theorganizations that have a need to know.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is input/output diagram for an emergent activity reportingprioritization and routing method according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a scoring process according to anembodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system for practicing the method of FIG.1 according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a screen shot of an application running on a mobile deviceincluded in the system of FIG. 3 according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a screen shot of a prioritized list display of observationsaccording to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a screen shot of a prioritized geospatial display ofobservations according to another embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a screen shot of a temporal display of events according toanother embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, a plurality of specific details,such as types of materials and dimensions, are set forth in order toprovide a thorough understanding of the preferred embodiments discussedbelow. The details discussed in connection with the preferredembodiments should not be understood to limit the present inventions.Furthermore, for ease of understanding, certain method steps aredelineated as separate steps; however, these steps should not beconstrued as necessarily distinct nor order dependent in theirperformance.

Method and apparatuses for prioritizing and routing emergent activityreporting are disclosed herein. The methods and apparatuses may beuseful for emergent situations where existing or official sources arenot readily available or are not timely, and prioritized informationrouted to the proper communities of interest is desired to mitigaterisks or maximize opportunities to act. These methods and apparatusesmay overcome one of the major problems with activity reporting from thefield wherein a flood of reports is not prioritized to allow an analyst,operational decision maker or consumer to act on important items first.

Emergent situations may be subdivided into three categories, all ofwhich may be processed using the methods and apparatuses disclosedherein:

-   -   1) Activities the observer believes to be suspicious, illegal,        dangerous or inappropriate. For example, suspicious activities        involving placement of packages, vehicles abandoned for long        periods of time, or people taking photographs of iconic        structures.    -   2) Adverse situations where response and recovery needs are best        determined by functional specialists. For example, assessment        personnel reporting damage locations from the field after a        hurricane or flood event.    -   3) Special interest activities where the observer wishes to        indicate a unique or timely observation with a specific        community of interest. For example, sale sharing communities        reporting retail sale events.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing inputs and outputs of a method 100 that maybe used for prioritizing and routing emergent activity information ofall three of the above categories of emergent situations. The goal ofthe method 100 is to provide an activity report that is complete anddescriptive, is prioritized according to analytic metrics, and is routedto one or more “communities of interest.” Communities of interest aredefined as individuals or organizations deemed to have a need to knowbecause they a) may be adversely affected by the emergent situation; orb) have responsibility to respond or have oversight of response to thesituation, or c) have opted in because they wish to be apprised of theemergent risk or opportunity.

The method 100 receives inputs 110 and acts on the inputs usingPrioritization and Routing analytics comprising in part the types oftools 120 indicated at the bottom of FIG. 1. Inputs 110 to the method100 are provided by an observer (usually a person or a device, where thedevice could be a model, database, or external analytic method). Theobserver is presumed to be reporting on an observed behavior, activityor situation the observer believes to be an indicator of an emergentsituation. The inputs 110 may be grouped together in a single emergentactivity observation report (referred to hereinafter as simply anobservation), and an observation may include all or less than all of thefollowing:

-   -   Activity Description—this is descriptive information about the        observation including, but not limited to a text description        provided by the observer, photographs, video, audio recordings,        time of observation, weather conditions, etc.    -   Location Data—location data including, but not limited to the        location of the observer, the location of the observed        situation, the distance between the observer and the situation,        the direction the observer is facing, the speed at which the        observer is moving, etc. In embodiments employing a mobile        application for observation reporting as discussed in further        detail below, the source of the location data may be a mobile        device (e.g., a cell phone) on which the application runs.    -   Sender ID Data—identification data including, but not limited to        the name and personal information for the observer, role and        expertise of the user (to establish credibility) and        identification information of the device used for reporting.    -   Activity Classification—an indicator of the type of observation        being made. Examples could include suspicious package, dangerous        driving, need for assistance, etc. In some embodiments employing        a mobile application for observation reporting as discussed in        further detail below, the classification may be is selected from        a list of possible classification types presented to the        observer by the mobile device.

The method 100 may use analytic processes 120 to create additionalinformation from the information submitted by the observer in theobservations in some embodiments. These analytic processes may includethose discussed in the following paragraphs.

Content Extraction—Observer-submitted content is analyzed to providefurther information that can be used in prioritization and routing.Examples include facial recognition analysis that further identifies anindividual, or text mining applications that identify keywords. Textanalysis is used to extract entities (proper nouns, locations, andpeople). Furthermore, text analysis is employed to extract sentiment andconcepts from the content—such as negative connotations used in audio ortext descriptions, larger concepts of events not obvious when looking ateach word separately (“the deal goes down at noon” as a phrase mayprovide prioritization information whereas the individual words in thatphrase do not).

Sender Profiling Analytics—Identification of non-anonymous users is usedto establish credibility of the sender, or establish a pattern of usethat indicates credibility. A certain submitter may be best atidentifying suspicious vehicles, so all such reports from this userwould have a higher confidence in the prioritization scoring.

Risk Analytics—Risk analytics are used to analyze the potential risksindicated by the activity report. Threat likelihood, vulnerabilities ofnearby sites, events, people or groups of people, and potentialconsequences are analyzed through risk algorithms to feed prioritizationand routing methods. A site could be an event venue or supportingcritical infrastructure like a utility. An event could be a party, asporting event, or similar gathering of people. People and groups ofpeople could be VIPs, a protectee, a suspicious person, members of acommunity of interest, or large gathering of citizens. Using catalogs ofassets, events, and people, and information about their location andcriticality and feeds of live information about assets, events, andpeople, risk may be used to influence the prioritization scoring. Livefeeds could include 911 calls for service, traffic alerts, weatheralerts, public safety incident management feeds, or social networkingfeeds such as Twitter. For example, a suspicious package next to a Stategovernment building is more important than a person seen taking picturesin the middle of a field. Vulnerability of the asset, person(s) orevent, combined with possible consequences and threat likelihood of theattack type (IED) factor into the prioritization score. Risk is definedas the combination of threat likelihood, vulnerability of an asset,event, or person(s) to that threat, and the consequences from thatthreat if it were to succeed. As used herein, “asset” refers to physicalitems such as buildings, sites, vehicles, and any other thing ofinterest to a user or community of users. The term “object of interest”will be used to refer to an asset, event, person or groups of peoplethat are of concern.

Geospatial Analytics—Analysis of geospatial relationships are used tocorrelate proximity of multiple messages and indicate nearby communitiesof interest or assets, events, and person(s) that may be impacted by theemergent situation. A possible suspicious vehicle next to a criticalasset receives a higher prioritization score than a vehicle parked inthe middle of a field. The contribution to the prioritization score isrelated to distances from catalogs of important assets, events, andperson(s).

It should be noted that methods and apparatuses discussed herein may, insome embodiments, process observations on behalf of more than oneentity, and the observations being processed on behalf of one entity mayoverlap partially, wholly or not at all with observations beingprocessed on behalf of other entities. For example, observations may beprocessed on behalf of a federal and a local law enforcement agency, ora local law enforcement agency and a private property owner such as theowner of a shopping mall or sports stadium, and the observations may beshared in whole or in part between these two organizations. It shouldfurther be understood that, in situations in which the same observationis being processed on behalf of different entities, the observations maybe processed differently for each entity. For example, the geospatialanalytics may be different for federal and local law enforcementagencies in that they may have different geographic areas ofresponsibility. Likewise, the catalogs of important assets, events andperson(s) for the local law enforcement agency and the private propertyowner may be different. Thus, the geospatial analytics may indicate asimilar priority level for an observation of suspicious package next toan entrance of a crowded shopping mall for both the local lawenforcement agency and the private property owner, but an observation ofa similar suspicious package next to an entrance of a train station notlocated near the shopping mall may result in very different geospatialanalytics when processed on behalf of the same local law enforcementagency and shopping mall owner.

Scoring and Prioritization

In some embodiments, there may be hundreds of reports being uploadedevery hour. It therefore does no good to any consumer of reportinginformation to simply see all of the reports in equal weighting insimilar views. The purpose of the analytic methods is to analyticallyscore incoming reports to allow for a prioritization scheme. Aprioritization scheme allows for an ordered investigation to help theconsumer address important items first, while at the same time notsimply filtering out an arbitrary set.

The scoring algorithm takes into account many factors to set a score foreach item. The factors included in the scoring algorithm are

-   -   submission time and proximity in time to similar reported        items—activity reports at a certain time may denote more        importance than ones reported at a different time, for example,        suspicious packages at the height of rush hour in a train        station should be prioritized above similar reports at 2 am        where human traffic is at a minimum. Furthermore, items of a        similar nature which are grouped together in a temporal sense        may increase the score, for example multiple reports of the same        activity type all grouped together at one time would indicate        more than one observer seeing the same general activity (a dozen        people report the same activity in a window from 9 am to 9:10 am        would tend to indicate it is a more obvious, important event).    -   geographical location and proximity to other events or assets of        interest; using the location of the activity report in        comparison with locations of important assets (buildings,        infrastructure) adds more to the score when activities are        reported in proximity to important assets. Computing the        distance between two points, the distances from activity reports        to assets are all used to compute a score which varies inversely        to the distances from assets. For example, a report of a        suspicious package 10 meters from a government building would        yield a higher score than a similar report of an item 1000        meters from the same building.    -   activity type; the score for activity type varies according to        the type of activity—for example, a suspicious package could        result in a higher score contribution than that of a report of a        suspicious person taking pictures due to the immediate nature of        the former report.    -   key words and phrases found in the description text including        people, places, things; an analyst may want to score reports        higher which include certain concepts such as “bridge” or        “crowd”. These phrases and key words may be used to adjust        scoring up or down.    -   confidence rating based on credibility of the observer, number        of similar observations, patterns of known observers (patterns        of known observers may encompass both the type and location of        observations made by reporters in the past—for example, a        reporter may have always been entirely credible in the past        reporting on suspicious vehicles in their block of        residence—therefore, based on this pattern of historical        successful reports, new reports matching that pattern will be        scored with greater confidence) and other factors;    -   risk relevance (does the observation indicate a specific threat        type, or suggest an incident where there is a known        vulnerability, or a type of consequence?); and    -   arbitrarily configured priority ratings acting as a commander        override—the prerogative of the analyst to manually adjust        scoring.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram 200 illustrating a scoring process that may beused in the method 100 according to some embodiments. The scoringprocess begins with the input of an activity report (an observation) atstep 210. An activity report starts the process with a score of 1.0. Ateach step 212-220 of the scoring process, the score is multiplied byfactors computed at each step of the way. The score may be adjusted upor down by multiplying by factors greater to or less than 1.0 at eachstep. Discounting an activity report completely can be done at any stepin the process by multiplying the score by a factor of 0. The scoringprocess of FIG. 2 includes activity type scoring (step 212), contentbased scoring (step 214), source credibility scoring (step 216),geographic and temporal proximity scoring (step 218), and risk analysisscoring (step 220). The output of the scoring process is a scored andprioritized activity report 222.

Of particular interest is the notion of giving a higher score to itemswhich indicate the same activity type within the same geographicallocation. The theory is that if two or more people see and report thesame suspicious activity, more credibility can automatically be assignedto those reports, raising their score. The distance between events toprovide this score addition is set at the server, and is different foreach activity type (for example, distance between suspicious odorreports would be much larger for the same activity than for a suspiciouspackage).

The scoring process is run on a periodic basis to constantly updatescores of previous observations. This period may be as fast as themachine can handle (real-time), or on a period of an hour or a day.Scores with contributions based on the time of the activity report willtherefore continually update, and score contributions from the age willtherefore be in constant change. For example, at the moment one activityreport comes in the score contribution from time will be a value A. Atevery period when the scoring process is run the time score will be lessthan A as the score falls off to be inversely proportional to the age ofthe activity report.

In the scoring process above, the score is calculated by multiplying abase score by factors calculated in each of the successive scoringroutines. Those of skill in the art will understand that this is but oneexemplary method for calculating a score, and other methods (e.g.,adding scores from each successive routine to arrive at a total score)may be employed in other embodiments.

Routing

To route outputs to the desired communities of interest, the methodconsiders a combination of the following factors to determine therouting protocol for the prioritized observation (i.e., a list ofrecipients to which the prioritized observation will be sent, with anull list being a possibility when observations have received a low orzero score in the scoring process described above, and possiblyadditional information such as rendering information):

-   -   Score (from the scoring routine discussed above);    -   Time of the observation—certain communities of interest may have        oversight of a given type of situation during an “operational        period” and thus would be notified;    -   Location—certain communities of interest have jurisdiction over        events that occur within a defined geographic footprint and thus        would be notified;    -   Risk impacts—organizations that could be impacted by the event        due to their involvement, proximity, or potential consequences        must be notified so they can take action;    -   Risk Mitigation ownership—organizations that have responsibility        for mitigating certain threat likelihoods, vulnerabilities, or        consequences are notified; and    -   Subscribers—organizations or individuals that opt to receive        messages.

As discussed above, the score from the scoring process includes acomponent based on geographic proximity factors (e.g., how close theobservation is to the mall owner's property). Thus, if the mall ownerhas indicated a threshold score below which the owner wants nonotification of observations, the consideration of the location in thecalculation of the score may result in the observation not beingreported to the mall owner. However, the mall owner may have a secondcriterion—that may vary by time of day—based strictly on location (e.g.,the mall owner might not want any observations not located on hisproperty during non-business hours). Thus, despite location alreadybeing reflected to some degree in the score, the location of theobservation may be used again in the routing procedure.

An apparatus 300 for prioritizing and routing emergent activityreporting according to one embodiment is shown in FIG. 3. The apparatus300 allows observers to submit observations to a central location. Theapparatus 300 then analytically determines prioritization metrics androuting protocols and sends reports out to external applications and/ordisplay devices based on routing protocols using the methods discussedabove. Additionally, the apparatus 300 may include display devices (notshown in FIG. 3) to aid communities of interest to more effectivelyconsume and analyze reporting.

The apparatus 300 comprises three main parts: One or more mobile devices310 on which a mobile applications runs, the server 320 and associateddatabase 330, and the display applications 340, 350, and 360.

The mobile device 310 may be a mobile device such as a smartphone, atablet, a special purpose device designed specifically for interactionwith the server 320, or any other device capable of executing anapplication and communicating with the server 320, preferablywirelessly. An application is installed on the device 320. Theapplication may be user-downloadable. The application may provide asimple interface to allow a user to report any emergent activities theymay encounter in their daily routine or as part of their job. Anexemplary interface screen 410 is shown on the mobile device 310 shownin FIG. 4. An activity type is selected from a pre-populated list ofactivities, such as Package or Vehicle, via an Activity drop-down menu420. A description may be entered in free-form text in the descriptiontext box 430. A picture may be taken using the mobile device'sintegrated camera via the “Add Image” button 440. Upon submission of theobservation (e.g., by pressing the “Submit” button 450), the devicelocation is also sent providing latitude and longitude. The devicelocation may be obtained in any manner known in the art, including via aGPS receiver integrated into the mobile device 310 or by usingmultilateration techniques. The observation may be sent over SSL-securedHTTP to the server 320.

In some embodiments, the configuration of the mobile application ispulled down from the server 320, therefore users may have different setsof activity lists from which to choose. For example, using the sameapplication apparatus, user A may see a list of suspicious activitytypes (Package, Vehicle, etc) while user B may use a configuration whichcontains damage assessment types (Minor, Severe, etc). The applicationremains flexible to allow the server to provide a configuration for usebased on a configuration name entered by the user. Information sent tothe application for configuration includes logo imagery, activity list,and whether or not certain personal information is required from theuser (name, phone number, email address).

The server 320 stores the observations from the mobile devices 310 (and,in some embodiments, observations from other sources) in a relationaldatabase 330. The server 320 may score items as they come in based on avariety of factors including location, proximity to other reports,report type, and key word and phrase matching found in the descriptionsas discussed above in connection with the scoring algorithm 200 of FIG.2. The server 320 may provide a GeoRSS feed of prioritized activityreports in an XML format. Depending on the ultimate consumer of theseitems, the prioritized activity reports are routed to particularsubscribers based on their scoring preferences, location, and othersettings as discussed above in the section labeled “ROUTING.”

An exemplary server 320 server may be a Microsoft Server 2008 machinewith Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Application code runs on this server 320with data storage provided by an SQL server relational database 330. Theserver 320 requires a connection to the internet or other communicationsmedium to receive activity messages from the mobile devices 310. Thoseof skill will recognize that other hardware platforms and architecturesmay also be used. Moreover, it should be understood that the server 320may by implemented on one or more physical computer devices. Inembodiments in which the server is implemented on multiple devices, themultiple devices may all perform the same functions or the functionalityof the server 320 may be divided among the multiple devices (e.g., onedevice performing the scoring functions discussed above, a second deviceperforming the display functions discussed above, etc.). Accordingly,references to a server or a computer herein should be understood torefer to one or more physical devices, each performing identical ordifferent functions.

The result of the processing of the observations by the server 320 is aprioritized, geo-located list of observations/activity reports. Thesemay be visualized and used in three distinct manners: apriority-weighted list view, a geospatial view, and a temporal view. Thepriority-weighted list view may show important observations at the topof the display at all times for continuous monitoring. Observations maybe displayed with a title font size proportional to the score of theobservation—therefore higher scoring observations are not only at thetop of the list, but also appear in a large font to draw attention fromthe analyst/user/consumer. An exemplary priority-weighted list view 500is shown in FIG. 5. A user may consume this view through a web browserusing a web application served by the server 320 or through a mobileapplication that connects to server 320.

The geospatial view shows observations with icons based on priority andtype of activity placed at the latitude and longitude of theobservation. This, combined with a geospatial view of importantresources and objects of interest and other live feeds of data, allowsoperational response to incident reports of high priority. An exemplarygeospatial display 600 is shown in FIG. 6. A user may consume this viewthrough a web browser using a web application served by the server 320or through a mobile application that connects to server 320.

The temporal view shows observations in a timeline view allowing theseobservations to be view in a temporal context. Such a view can beconfigured by the user to sort on priority and also by time ofobservation. Additionally, by showing events that are known (such asscheduled events like a reception or flash events like a politicaldemonstration), the user can see prioritized observations in contextwith events they may be associated with. An exemplary temporal display700 is shown in FIG. 7. A user may consume this view through a webbrowser using a web application served by the server 320 or through amobile application that connects to server 320.

In addition to the prioritized list view of activity reports ranked byscore, a service provides email alerts for items over a threshold score.When a very critical item is scored extremely high an email alert or SMSalert may be dispatched to a list of users subscribing to this activityfeed.

It will be understood form the discussion above that the methoddiscussed herein are flexible and adaptable to various observation typesin a wide variety of contexts. Some exemplary uses of the methoddisclosed herein are set forth below:

Reporting Activities that are Suspicious or May be Illegal, Dangerous,or Inappropriate

Homeland Security Suspicious Activity Reporting: The general public usesmobile applications to report suspicious behavior/activities andmessages are prioritized and routed to intelligence and law enforcementagencies.

Amber Alert Reporting: The general public uses mobile applications toreport sightings related to amber alert information that is published inthe media and through the mobile application itself. Messages areprioritized and routed to law enforcement.

Neighborhood Watch Reporting: Neighborhood watch teams use mobileapplications to report suspicious activities and messages areprioritized and routed to local law enforcement and emergency services.

Special Event Security and Fan Behavior: Attendees of an event usemobile applications to report suspicious, aggressive, and inappropriatebehavior and messages are prioritized and routed security, lawenforcement, team, and league officials.

Illegal Alien Reporting: The general public uses mobile applications toreport suspected illegal aliens and messages are prioritized and routedto intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Border Screening: The general public uses mobile applications to reportsuspected illegal border activity and messages are routed to appropriateborder control agencies.

Biosurveillance: The general public uses mobile applications to reporton illnesses and symptoms and messages are aggregated and analyzed toprovide early warning of outbreaks and routed to public healthofficials.

DUI and Aggressive Driving Reporting: Motorists use mobile applicationsto report suspicious or aggressive driving behavior and messages areprioritized and routed to law enforcement agencies.

Citizen Crime Reporting: The general public uses mobile applications toreport suspicious or illegal behavior and messages are prioritized androuted to intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Corporate Personal Security: Corporate employees use mobile applicationsto check in on travel status and whereabouts and locations data iscorrelated to known risks to identify security issues. Messages arerouted to the employee, corporate security, and management.

Traffic Reporting: The general public uses mobile applications to reporton traffic construction, delays, and accidents and messages are routedto the general public, subscribers, the media, and transportationagencies

Law Enforcement Queuing: The general public uses mobile applications torequest assistance from law enforcement in emergent situations andmessages are prioritized and routed to officers and emergency servicesin close proximity.

Expert Assessment of Emergent Situations

Airport Screening: Roaming behavioral analysts use mobile applicationsto report and characterize suspicious behavior and messages areprioritized and routed to TSA Screeners and law enforcement agencies.

Emergency Responder Suspicious Activity Reporting: First responders on acall for service use mobile applications to report and characterizesuspicious behavior and situations not related to the call and messagesare prioritized and routed to intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

HAZMAT Incident Reporting: HAZMAT team use mobile applications to reportand characterize on-scene HAZMAT observations and messages areprioritized and routed to public safety agencies to facilitate response.

Toll Gate Screening: Toll screeners use mobile applications to reportand characterize suspicious behavior and messages are prioritizedcombined with photographic images and “speedpass” data and routed lawenforcement or code enforcement agencies.

Disaster Reporting by First Responders: Responder organizations usemobile applications to report on damage assessment or needspost-incident. Observations are analyzed and routed to responsibleresponding organizations to facilitate a coordinated response. Earlydamage assessments may be done after hurricanes or floods by quicklytaking pictures of buildings and rating the damage by picking aselection from the activity drop down list (Minor, Severe, Destroyed,etc).

Special Needs Population Assistance: First Responders and the generalpublic use mobile applications to identify and report on individualsthat may need additional assistance in a crisis or during an evacuation.Messages are routed to public safety agencies to ensure special needsare met.

Special Interest Reporting of Emergent Opportunities

Reporting on Emergent Sales Situations: The general public uses mobileapplications to report on emergent sales situations like dwindlingstock, or special in-store pricing that may not be well publicized.Messages are routed to individuals that subscribe to specificcommunities of interest.

Celebrity Spotting: The general public use mobile applications toidentify and report on ad hoc celebrity sightings. Messages are routedto individuals that subscribe to specific communities of interest.

Entertainment Status Reporting: The general public uses mobileapplications to report on the status of entertainment venues (length ofline or wait, perceived “scene”, potential altercations). Messages arerouted to individuals that subscribe to specific communities of interestand law enforcement agencies as needed.

Hobbyist Reporting: Enthusiasts of a particular hobby use mobileapplications to report on emergent activities (bird watching,trainspotting, etc.) within their special interest. Messages are routedto individuals that subscribe to specific communities of interest.

The foregoing examples are provided merely for the purpose ofexplanation and are in no way to be construed as limiting. Whilereference to various embodiments is made, the words used herein arewords of description and illustration, rather than words of limitation.Further, although reference to particular means, materials, andembodiments are shown, there is no limitation to the particularsdisclosed herein. Rather, the embodiments extend to all functionallyequivalent structures, methods, and uses, such as are within the scopeof the appended claims.

Additionally, the purpose of the Abstract is to enable the patent officeand the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers andpractitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal termsor phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection thenature of the technical disclosure of the application. The Abstract isnot intended to be limiting as to the scope of the present inventions inany way.

1. A method for prioritizing and reporting an observation comprising thesteps of: receiving an observation from a mobile device, the observationcomprising location information and an activity classification selectedfrom a predetermined set of activity classifications; calculating apriority for the observation based at least in part on the activityclassification and the location information; determining a routingprotocol for the observation, the routing protocol including anidentifier of a recipient of the observation; and transmitting a reportof the observation to at least one recipient based on the routingprotocol.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority is based atleast in part upon a distance between the location information in theobservation and a location of an object of interest associated with therecipient.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority is based atleast in part on the existence of a second observation from a differentobserver having a same activity classification as the activity in theobservation and having location information that is within a thresholddistance from the location information in the observation.
 4. The methodof claim 1, further comprising the step of combining the observationwith a plurality of other observations in a manner indicative of thepriority of the observation with respect to priorities of the pluralityof other observations.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the observationis combined with the plurality of other observations in a priorityordered list.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the priority orderedlist is rendered using a plurality of font sizes, each of theobservation being assigned a font size based on the correspondingpriority.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein the observation is combinedwith the plurality of other observations in a geospatial view.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein each observation is displayed in thegeospatial view with a display attribute dependent upon the priority ofthe observation, the display attribute being selected from the groupconsisting of color, size and font.
 9. The method of claim 7, wherein atleast one object of interest associated with the at least one recipientis depicted in the geospatial view.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe location information associated with the observation is determinedby the mobile device.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the observationincludes additional information, further comprising the step ofperforming a content extraction on the additional information.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the additional information includes at leastone image, and wherein the content extraction comprises an imageanalysis.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the image analysiscomprises a facial recognition analysis.
 14. The method of claim 11,wherein the additional information comprises textual information, andwherein the content extraction comprises a sentiment analysis.
 15. Asystem for prioritizing and reporting an observation, the systemcomprising: at least one mobile device, the mobile device configured toexecute an application for preparing an observation, the observationcomprising location information determined by the mobile device and anactivity classification, the activity classification being selected by auser of the mobile device from a predetermined set of activityclassifications; and a server, the server being configured to performthe steps of receiving an observation from a mobile device, theobservation comprising location information and an activityclassification selected from a predetermined set of activityclassifications; calculating a priority for the observation based atleast in part on the activity classification and the locationinformation; determining a routing protocol for the observation, therouting protocol including an identifier of a recipient of theobservation; and transmitting a report of the observation to the atleast one recipient based on the routing protocol.
 16. The system ofclaim 15, wherein the server is further configured to serve a display ofthe observation together with a plurality of other observations in amanner indicative of the priority of the observation with respect topriorities of the plurality of other observations.
 17. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the observation is combined with the plurality ofother observations in a priority ordered list.
 18. The system of claim16, wherein the observation is combined with the plurality of otherobservations in a geospatial view.